• An American journalist who was recently freed after spending nearly six months in jail in military-ruled Myanmar helped light one of eight Hanukkah candles during a holiday celebration in downtown Detroit.

• Danny Fenster, 37, joined elected and community leaders for the “Menorah in the D” event marking the start of Hanukkah.

• Fenster, who is from the Detroit suburb of Huntington Woods, was handed over Nov. 15 by Myanmar to former U.S. diplomat Bill Richardson, who helped negotiate his release. He returned to the U.S. the following day.

• Fenster, the managing editor of online magazine Frontier Myanmar, is one of more than 100 journalists, media officials and publishers who have been detained in the Southeast Asian country since its military ousted the elected government in February.

• Tel Aviv is the world's most expensive city to live in as soaring inflation has pushed up living costs globally

• The Israeli city climbed five rungs to score top place for the first time in the authoritative ranking compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

• The Worldwide Cost of Living Index is compiled by comparing prices in US dollars for goods and services in 173 cities.

• Tel Aviv climbed the rankings partly due to the strength of the national currency, the shekel, against the dollar, as well increases in prices for transport and groceries.

• Paris and Singapore came joint second, followed by Zurich and Hong Kong. New York was in sixth, with Geneva in seventh.

• Rounding off the top 10 were Copenhagen in eighth, Los Angeles in ninth and Osaka, Japan, in 10th.

• The average inflation figure does not include four cities with exceptionally high rates: Caracas, Damascus, Buenos Aires and Tehran.

• Damascus was ranked the world's cheapest city to live in

• Honduras' ruling party conceded defeat on Nov  30 in presidential elections held two days earlier, giving victory to leftist opposition candidate Xiomara Castro and easing fears of another contested vote and violent protests.

• Tegucigalpa Mayor Nasry Asfura, presidential candidate of the National Party, said in a statement that he had personally congratulated Castro, despite only about half the voting tallies being counted from  Nov 28  election.

• Asfura’s recognition of the outcome was a relief to many Hondurans who had feared a contested election after a debacle in 2017 led to street protests that left 23 people dead. Following that vote, the government imposed a curfew and only three weeks later declared now-outgoing President Juan Orlando Hernández the winner despite the Organization of American States observation mission calling for an election re-do.

• Castro rode a wave of popular discontent with 12 years of National Party governance, which peaked in Hernández's second term.

• She will face major challenges as the Central American country's president. Unemployment is above 10%, northern Honduras was devastated by two major hurricanes last year and street gangs drag down the economy with their extortion rackets and violence, driving migration to the United States.

• Many Castro supporters remember the U.S. government’s initial sluggishness in calling the ouster of Castro’s husband Manuel Zelaya from the presidency in 2009 a coup, and then proceeding to work closely with the National Party presidents who followed. And from the U.S. perspective, Washington remembers how Castro and Zelaya cozied up to then-Venezuela President Hugo Chávez.

• New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on  Dec 1  ordered police and troops to join an international peacekeeping mission in the crisis-hit Solomon Islands following deadly anti-government riots.

• Ardern said the deployment of 65 peacekeepers followed a request from the Solomons government, which was almost toppled during the unrest that claimed at least three lives and reduced much of downtown Honiara -- the country's capital -- to smouldering rubble.

• She said an initial force of 15 New Zealand personnel would set off on Dec 2  and another 50 would join them over the weekend.

• The New Zealand leader said they would work with Solomons police and about 200 peacekeepers already on the ground in Honiara from Australia, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.

• The crisis erupted last week when protests over government policies turned violent, fuelled by poverty, unemployment and inter-island rivalries in the nation of 800,000.

• Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare is set to face a no-confidence motion filed by the opposition , providing another potential flashpoint for unrest.

• After trying to storm parliament, mobs ran amok for three days, torching much of Honiara's Chinatown area and attempting to burn down Sogavare's home.

• New Zealand took part in the last Australian-led peacekeeping mission in the Solomons, which stretched from 2003-17.

• The Chinese community was targeted partly due to the government's decision to switch diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to China in 2019, a move that angered some communities in the aid-dependent nation.

• Ukraine's foreign minister called on NATO  on Dec 1  for a "deterrence package" to stop Russia launching an invasion of his country, at a meeting with top diplomats from the alliance.

• NATO has been discussing how react to a military build-up by Moscow close to Ukraine's border amid fears from Western nations that Russian President Vladimir Putin could be planning an incursion.

• Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba called for a three-pronged approach involving clear communications to Moscow, readying a package of sanctions and increasing military support to Kiev.

• NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg warned after talks among allies on Nov 1  that Russia would face a "high price" if it launches an operation against Ukraine and said alliance members could impose sanctions.

• NATO itself does not decide on sanctions.

• Ukraine, which has seen its push to join the US-led bloc stall, has been receiving increased military support from NATO allies. 

• Moscow, which seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and backs separatists fighting Kiev, has strongly denied it is currently plotting an attack and blames NATO for fuelling tensions.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed a pact with the Government of India to provide a loan of USD 250 million (about Rs 1,872 crore) to support the country's National Industrial Corridor Development Program (NICDP).

Rajat Kumar Mishra, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Finance signed for the Government of India the agreement for first of the two sub-programs, each of USD 250 million, of the Industrial Corridor Development Program, while Takeo Konishi, Country Director of ADB's India Resident Mission, signed for ADB .

Mishra stated that the ADB financing supports India's NICDP that aims to develop world-class industrial nodes that are buttressed by efficient urban agglomerations and multimodal connectivity, including international gateways like ports and airports and inclusive, climate-resilient, and sustainable infrastructure.

ADB said that India has initiated significant reforms to increase the manufacturing sector's productivity and competitiveness like streamlined business processes to facilitate private investment, reduced corporate taxes, and consolidated labour codes.

As part of NICDP, it is also developing guidelines for green corridor frameworks and climate-resilient infrastructure as well as focusing on enhancing skills for the participation of female labour. Established in 1966, ADB is owned by 68 members -- 49 from the region.

State-run power giant NTPC on Dec 1 said its board has appointed three additional directors (independent directors).

The board of NTPC has appointed Jitendra Jayantilal Tanna, Vivek Gupta and Vidyadhar Vaishampayan as Additional Directors (Independent Directors) in its meeting held on November 30, 2021.

Jitendra Jayantilal Tanna, aged 47 years is a Chartered Accountant by profession. Vivek Gupta, aged 48 years is a serial entrepreneur. Vidyadhar Vaishampayan, aged 58 years is a M-Tech from IIT-Mumbai and he has also completed Executive Development Study from lIM-Bangalore.

Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection in November grew 25 per cent to Rs 1.31 lakh crore -- second highest since its implementation -- indicating economic recovery with normalisation of business activity and increased compliance .

This is the fifth month in a row that the revenues from goods sold and services rendered was over Rs 1 lakh crore. The gross GST revenue collected in the month of November 2021 is Rs 1,31,526 crore of which CGST is Rs 23,978 crore, SGST is Rs 31,127 crore, IGST is Rs 66,815 crore (including Rs 32,165 crore collected on import of goods) and Cess is Rs 9,606 crore (including Rs 653 crore collected on import of goods) .

CGST refers to Central Goods and Services Tax, SGST (State Goods and Services Tax) and IGST (Integrated Goods and Services Tax).

The revenues for the month of November 2021, are 25 per cent higher than close to Rs 1.05 lakh crore Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue in November 2020, and 27 per cent higher over November 2019 revenues.

In October 2021, the revenues were at Rs 1,30,127 crore, while in April 2021 it was the highest at Rs 1,39,708 crore. The recent trend of high GST revenues has been a result of various policy and administrative measures that have been taken in the past to improve compliance.

GST, which subsumed a host of indirect taxes like excise duty, service tax, VAT, was rolled out on July 1, 2017.

A large number of initiatives undertaken in the last one year like, enhancement of system capacity, nudging non-filers after last date of filing of returns, auto-population of returns, blocking of e-way bills and passing of input tax credit for non-filers has led to consistent improvement in the filing of returns over the last few months, the ministry added.

ICRA Chief Economist Aditi Nayar said collections may dip in December 2021, as suggested by the deceleration in the daily average e-way bill generation in the first three weeks of November 2021. "We expect Central GST collections to rise to Rs 5.8 trillion in FY2022, exceeding the FY2022 BE by Rs 50,000 crore," Nayar added.

Deloitte India Partner MS Mani said the increase in collections across major states ranging from 18 to 30 percentage plus points to an economic revival across states, accompanied by an increase in collections from import of goods.

Tax Connect Advisory Services Partner Vivek Jalan said, data analytics and investigations by GST officers seem to give a clear indication to trade and industry that robust compliances is the way ahead under GST.

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co Partner Rajat Bose said the collections of November are indicative of a robust economic growth. "The collections should continue to see a rise in the months to come, if we don't see another COVID wave in the country," Bose said.

The finance ministry on Wednesday revised downwards the GST collection figures for April, May and June. Earlier the figure for April was over Rs 1.41 lakh crore, May Rs 1.02 lakh crore and June Rs 92,849 crore, respectively.

The revised numbers of current fiscal stands at April Rs 1,39,708 crore, May at Rs 97,821 crore, June (Rs 92,800 crore), July (over Rs 1.16 lakh crore), August (over Rs 1.12 lakh crore), September (over Rs 1.17 lakh crore), October (over Rs 1.30 lakh crore) and November (Rs 1.31 lakh crore).